KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday decided to organise formal inauguration ceremony of two Thar-coal power projects, each one of 330 MW on April 10.
“This inauguration of power generation on Thar coal is historically important because the projects was conceived and founded by then prime minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and her (PPP) government in Sindh has realized her dream of Roashan Thar, Roashan Sindh and Roshan Pakistan,” he said while presiding over a meeting here today to work out and finalize the arrangements for inauguration ceremony of Thar coal power plants on April 10. The meeting was attended by Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, CM Advisor on Information Murtaza Wahab and other officers.
Shah said that in 1996, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had laid the foundation stone of the coal-fired power project to generate 13,00 MW by 1999 and then every year, 13,00 MW would have been added in the system until a total 5200 MW of electricity was generated by 2002. “I am proud to say that my father, then Sindh chief minister Syed Abdullah Shah was also present in the stone-laying ceremony and was part and parcel of the project.” He added that the cost of the electricity from this project was as low as 4.6 cents/kw.
Shah deplored that when work on the project was to be started, the PPP government was removed undemocratically and this project of national importance was abandoned. As a result, Pakistan plunge into the darkness of load shedding.
He said that after 22 years of hectic efforts and guidance of party leadership, the PPP government of Sindh was going to inaugurate Thar Coal Power Plant to generate 660 MW of electricity on Thar coal. “Today, the spirit of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto must be feeling satisfied in the heaven as her lieutenants, President Asif Zardari, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and myself [Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah] worked day and night and materialized her dream of generating electricity on Thar Coal,” he said.
Shaikh briefed the chief minister about the arrangements of the power project on April 10. The chief minister said that he wanted to have a festive type of arrangements. “This is a not an ordinary achievement as Thar Coal-fired power project is a major feather in the cap of PPP government,” he said and added Thar must be decorated with banners, buntings, feathers, posters and similar posters may be uploaded on the social media to celebrate the event.
The Thar coal power projects have already brought prosperity to the people of Thar and after power generation, its benefits would further trickle down to the whole of the province and the country.
Under the inauguration plan, the coal to be lifted from the coal mine, Block-II and would be poured in the boilers of power plants to generate electricity and the produced power would be pumped in the national grid laid through transmission line made from Thar to Matiari. “This would be a historic activity of power generation which is bound to lift the future of Pakistan,” the chief minister concluded.
